Pocket forest & urban design, Shani Efendi House, 2021
Supported by “City Experiment Fund” of UNDP Kosovo
“People tend to sit where there are places to sit.”
William H. Whyte, from The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
Open urban spaces, small or large, belong to the citizens. Walls and fences often forbid the conviviality a city has to offer. In an effort to create a space of community, Shani Efendi House’s walls and fences have been transformed from being a divisive physical obstacle into a gathering and habitable urban furniture. A place to sit, read, recline, sunbathe, chat with friends, feed your baby, have lunch or do nothing. Lumbardhi Cinema and Shani Efendi House are now interconnected within a flowing urban space extending to Farkëtarët Street and Shadërvan Square.
The garden formerly covered with grass–an outdated landscape element belonging to the last century, has been transformed into a pocket forest with local species which do not need maintenance and can feed and house birds, bees and other members of the Prizren ecology. The garden is now in the process of becoming a vibrant landscape ensuring biodiversity, sequestering carbon and filtering pollutants.
Team: Aslıhan Demirtaş, Ali Cindoruk, Seçkin Maden
Coordinator: Veron Tara, Gërr-Gërr Platform
Planting: Aleksandra Eftimovska
Carpenter: Eser and Sedat Shekagji
Thanks to Hamdi Bajraktari, Autostrada Biennale and Admir Thaqi